1999 Ernie Ball Music Man Sterling 4 USA £1050 Minehead, Somerset

[Alfie Noakes]

It’s the usual story of instant attraction and lust, and then the heartbreak.

 

I innocently wandered into BassBros (yup, fatal) with no intention of buying anything, and saw this. Plugged it in, played it for about three hours (sorry Will), tried quite a few other basses, mainly Rays, kept coming back to this, and bought it. All was well until the first gig when the band thought that it didn’t sit so well with our traditional sound (too powerful), whereas my Jazz bass did, and I can kinda hear what they mean. I’ve hung onto it for a bit, but as it won’t be earning its keep, and I have some costs coming up, I may as well move it on, albeit reluctantly.

 

Plays great, sounds awesome (read the reviews), and is perceived to sound like a slightly more aggressive Stingray, but with two more tone options via the three way switch. There’s quite a few out there that prefer Sterlings to Rays, because of the tone options and smaller body.

 

For a 25 year old bass it’s in very good condition, with only a few marks on the body and a slightly discoloured area on the back where someone had once placed a sticker, which is subtle and a pig to capture with a photo on a December evening, indoors. The electronics all work perfectly. Weighs just over 10 lbs, and the slightly smaller than a Ray body is just so much more comfortable.

 

I paid £1,250 – I’ve seen a few at £1,250-£1,400 on Reverb recently – so I’ll take the traditional ‘hit’ and offer it up at £1,050, firm.

 

It comes with two pickguards, and a Warwick gig bag. Would prefer a meet up at a mutually convenient spot.

 

Here’s the BassBros link to the original post:

https://bassbros.co.uk/sold-basses/1999-ernie-ball-music-man-sterling-4-usa-2/
 

 

 

…and here’s my inferior photos

Edited 4 hours ago by Alfie Noakes

[AndyTravis]

Ah this was mine very briefly in the summer - my Old Casady came up for sale and I had to have it back!

 

It played great when it left me, and sounded ace.

[Alfie Noakes]

It still does, Andy - I’ll be sorry to see it go, but the finances and band kinda dictate that it does.